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In both City of Heroes and City of Villains, your character's Notoriety (also known as your Difficulty setting, sometimes referred to as your Reputation) determines the toughness of the missions you are assigned. There are five Notoriety/Difficulty levels, and you can change your character's setting to a new level at any time by visiting a designated NPC and paying a modest fee in Influence or Infamy. When you change your setting it will adjust all of your current and future missions to the new Notoriety level, but your Notoriety level only affects instanced missions, not missions calling for the defeat of a certain number of mobs in a particular zone or such.

Notoriety functions by adjusting the base level of a mission, or the size of the team attempting the mission, or both. The base level of a mission is equal to the level of the player whose mission it is at the time he accepted the mission, i.e. if one were to accept a mission at combat level 10, then advance to combat level 11 before entering it, the mission would still spawn mobs based at level 10. The size of the team attempting the mission affects the size and strength of the groups of mobs spawned at each of the mission's spawn points. Generally speaking, a spawn point in a solo mission will generate either three Minions or one Minion and one Lieutenant. A spawn point in a mission attempted by two players, or in a solo mission at (e.g.) Malicious notoriety, will generate five Minions at base level, or three Minions and a Lieutenant, or three Minions at base level plus one, or a Minion and Lieutenant at base level plus one. Adding more players to the team will produce even greater numbers of enemies and can result in Bosses spawning over and above the number placed by the mission designer.

In addition, missions attempted by a solo player on the lowest notoriety level will not spawn Boss mobs, spawning those mobs at Lieutenant strength instead. Missions that call for a "signature character" such as (say) Aurora Borealis or Anti-Matter will spawn that character as an Elite Boss or Archvillain depending on real (not adjusted) team size, as listed below. N.B.: Arch Villain or Hero characters in Task or Strike Forces will always spawn as such regardless of team size or notoriety.

Finally a note to players of Kheldian archtypes: Void Hunter and Quantum mobs spawn in addition to the number normally generated by a spawn point. Increases in team size can cause Void Hunter and Quantum mobs to spawn at Lieutenant and even Boss strength as well. For this reason, Kheldian players should exercise caution in raising their notoriety.

At the Heroic level, enemies will typically be equal to or a level above your character's level and the number of enemies will be at a base number. If you are attempting missions by yourself, bosses in the missions will instead be lieutenants with reduced hit points and power effectiveness, though they will retain the same powers as a normal boss. Similarly, Archvillains will be Elite Bosses when the team has less than six players.

At the Tenacious level, enemies will still typically be equal to or a level above your character's level, but the number and rank of enemies will be calculated as if there was an additional person on your team. Enemies may therefore be more numerous and there may be more lieutenants and bosses. If you are attempting missions by yourself, bosses can spawn in them when set to this difficulty level or higher. Archvillains will be Elite Bosses when the team has less than five players.

At the Rugged level, enemies will typically be one to two levels above your character's level and the number of enemies will be approximately the same as the base number at the Heroic level. Bosses will spawn in missions normally, but Archvillains will be Elite Bosses when there are less than four players on the team.

At the Unyielding level, enemies will typically be one to two levels above your character's level, but the number and rank of enemies will be calculated as if there was an additional person on your team. Enemies may therefore be more numerous and there may be more lieutenants and bosses. Archvillains will be Elite Bosses when the team has less than three players.

At the Invincible level, enemies will typically be two to three levels above your character's level and the number of enemies will be approximately the same as the base number at the Heroic level. Bosses will spawn in missions normally and Archvillains will be Archvillains, even if the missions are attempted by a single character (i.e. they will not be reduced to Elite Bosses).

At the Villainous level, enemies will typically be equal to or a level above your character's level and the number of enemies will be at a base number. If you are attempting missions by yourself, bosses in the missions will instead be lieutenants with reduced hit points and power effectiveness, though they will retain the same powers as a normal boss. Similarly, Archvillains and Heroes will be Elite Bosses when the team has less than six players.

At the Malicious level, enemies will still typically be equal to or a level above your character's level, but the number and rank of enemies will be calculated as if there was an additional person on your team. Enemies may therefore be more numerous and there may be more lieutenants and bosses. If you are attempting missions by yourself, bosses can spawn in them when set to this difficulty level or higher. Archvillains and Heroes will be Elite Bosses when the team has less than five players.

At the Vicious level, enemies will typically be one to two levels above your character's level and the number of enemies will be approximately the same as the base number at the Villainous level. Bosses will spawn in missions normally, but Archvillains and Heroes will be Elite Bosses when there are less than four players on the team.

At the Ruthless level, enemies will typically be one to two levels above your character's level, but the number and rank of enemies will be calculated as if there was an additional person on your team. Enemies may therefore be more numerous and there may be more lieutenants and bosses. Archvillains and Heroes will be Elite Bosses when the team has less than three players.

At the Relentless level, enemies will typically be two to three levels above your character's level and the number of enemies will be approximately the same as the base number at the Villainous level. Bosses will spawn in missions normally and Archvillains and Heroes will remain Archvillains and Heroes, even if the missions are attempted by a single character (i.e. they will not be reduced to Elite Bosses).